The aim behind the induction of a diplomatic office was so that the Islamic Emirate can establish contact with the international community under complete freedom and away from any danger and to ascertain the invaders in face to face dialogue that we are not going to abandon the struggle for our freedom and will not pardon you until the withdrawal of your last soldier and until you let the Afghans establish an Islamic government for themselves.

Similarly we wanted to quash the excuses put forward by the enemy who relieved themselves by repeatedly saying that the Mujahideen have no address with which contact can be made. Furthermore we wished to clarify to all the parties that in the future, we are prepared for such interaction with everyone as is done between any two sovereign nations in which every side gives consideration to its own established laws. We also wanted to erase the dull picture of Islamic Emirate painted and presented to the world by our enemies who dismissed us as a warring faction which has no political, administrative and social capabilities or that it wished to harm other nations all the while the Islamic Emirate has transparent policies, complete competence and long term plans regarding all these issues.

In this connection, the political envoys of the Islamic Emirate agreed upon the inauguration of a diplomatic office, the arrangement about which was already made with the government of Qatar and started holding preliminary talks with the occupying enemy over the exchange of prisoners. The Americans initially agreed upon taking practical steps regarding the exchange of prisoners and to not oppose our political office but with the passage of time, they turned their backs on their promises and started initiating baseless propaganda portraying the envoys of the Islamic Emirate as having commenced multilateral negotiations for solving the Afghan dilemma.

At the same time Hamid Karzai, who can not even make a single political decision without the prior consent of the Americans, falsely proclaimed that the Kabul administration and the Americans have jointly started peace talks with Taliban; whereas the Islamic Emirate has not discussed any other issue apart from the two aforementioned (i.e. the induction of an office and the exchange of prisoners) and neither have we accepted any other condition with any other side nor have we conducted any talks with Karzai administration.

A memorandum of understanding which was agreed upon earlier was not yet fulfilled when an American representative presented a list of conditions in his latest meeting with the Islamic Emirate which were not only unacceptable but also in contradiction with the earlier agreed upon points. So it was due to their alternating and ever changing position that the Islamic Emirate was compelled to suspend all dialogue with the Americans. We must categorically state that the real source of obstacle in talks was the shaky, erratic and vague standpoint of the Americans therefore all the responsibility for the halt also falls on their shoulders.

To elucidate the standpoint of the Islamic Emirate to our own Muslim people, to the transgressors and to the entire world, the inauguration of political office in Qatar was not but for the sake of reaching an understanding with the outside world and particularly for the exchange of prisoners with the Americans in the initial stages. But it seems that the invading Americans and their stooge regime took advantage of these measures of Islamic Emirate and sought to achieve other malicious objectives and therefore are postponing the core issues and are wasting time.

So the Islamic Emirate has decided to suspend all talks with Americans taking place in Qatar from today (Thursday 15th March 2012) onwards until the Americans clarify their stance on the issues concerned and until they show willingness in carrying out their promises instead of wasting time.

Similarly the Afghan issue has two main dimensions; one is internal and the other external. The external dimension is associated with Americans and the internal dimension is connected with the Afghans themselves. Until and unless the external dimension is settled which rests entirely in the hands of the foreigners, discussing the internal dimension is meaningless and is nothing more than a waste of time. Therefore the Islamic Emirate considers talking with the Kabul administration as pointless.

At the same time, the Islamic Emirate is fully prepared, has enduring patience and long-term Jihadi strategies against the malicious plots of the enemy and enjoys the ceaseless support of its believing nation. The Islamic Emirate correlates the presence of the alien forces in Afghanistan with instability of the entire region and will not tolerate it in the present shape nor temporary and neither in the shape of permanent bases.

The Islamic Emirate once again calls on the entire world and particularly the regional countries to support and back the Islamic Emirate in expelling of the invaders in order to achieve peace and stability in the whole region.Pict

Maladroit US diplomacy torpedoes Qatar-based Afghanistan peace talks. Hamid Karzai said to be tame and corrupt puppet of American invaders.
The Islamic Emirate decided on officially inaugurating its diplomatic office in Qatar a short while ago on 8th Zafar-ul-Muzaffar 1433 (Tuesday 3rd January 2012) for the purposes of reaching an understanding with the international community and for addressing some specific issues with the American invaders after arriving at an agreement with the government of Qatar.

The aim behind the induction of a diplomatic office was so that the Islamic Emirate can establish contact with the international community under complete freedom and away from any danger and to ascertain the invaders in face to face dialogue that we are not going to abandon the struggle for our freedom and will not pardon you until the withdrawal of your last soldier and until you let the Afghans establish an Islamic government for themselves.

Similarly we wanted to quash the excuses put forward by the enemy who relieved themselves by repeatedly saying that the Mujahideen have no address with which contact can be made. Furthermore we wished to clarify to all the parties that in the future, we are prepared for such interaction with everyone as is done between any two sovereign nations in which every side gives consideration to its own established laws. We also wanted to erase the dull picture of Islamic Emirate painted and presented to the world by our enemies who dismissed us as a warring faction which has no political, administrative and social capabilities or that it wished to harm other nations all the while the Islamic Emirate has transparent policies, complete competence and long term plans regarding all these issues.

In this connection, the political envoys of the Islamic Emirate agreed upon the inauguration of a diplomatic office, the arrangement about which was already made with the government of Qatar and started holding preliminary talks with the occupying enemy over the exchange of prisoners. The Americans initially agreed upon taking practical steps regarding the exchange of prisoners and to not oppose our political office but with the passage of time, they turned their backs on their promises and started initiating baseless propaganda portraying the envoys of the Islamic Emirate as having commenced multilateral negotiations for solving the Afghan dilemma.

At the same time Hamid Karzai, who can not even make a single political decision without the prior consent of the Americans, falsely proclaimed that the Kabul administration and the Americans have jointly started peace talks with Taliban; whereas the Islamic Emirate has not discussed any other issue apart from the two aforementioned (i.e. the induction of an office and the exchange of prisoners) and neither have we accepted any other condition with any other side nor have we conducted any talks with Karzai administration.

A memorandum of understanding which was agreed upon earlier was not yet fulfilled when an American representative presented a list of conditions in his latest meeting with the Islamic Emirate which were not only unacceptable but also in contradiction with the earlier agreed upon points. So it was due to their alternating and ever changing position that the Islamic Emirate was compelled to suspend all dialogue with the Americans. We must categorically state that the real source of obstacle in talks was the shaky, erratic and vague standpoint of the Americans therefore all the responsibility for the halt also falls on their shoulders.

To elucidate the standpoint of the Islamic Emirate to our own Muslim people, to the transgressors and to the entire world, the inauguration of political office in Qatar was not but for the sake of reaching an understanding with the outside world and particularly for the exchange of prisoners with the Americans in the initial stages. But it seems that the invading Americans and their stooge regime took advantage of these measures of Islamic Emirate and sought to achieve other malicious objectives and therefore are postponing the core issues and are wasting time.

So the Islamic Emirate has decided to suspend all talks with Americans taking place in Qatar from today (Thursday 15th March 2012) onwards until the Americans clarify their stance on the issues concerned and until they show willingness in carrying out their promises instead of wasting time.

Similarly the Afghan issue has two main dimensions; one is internal and the other external. The external dimension is associated with Americans and the internal dimension is connected with the Afghans themselves. Until and unless the external dimension is settled which rests entirely in the hands of the foreigners, discussing the internal dimension is meaningless and is nothing more than a waste of time. Therefore the Islamic Emirate considers talking with the Kabul administration as pointless.

At the same time, the Islamic Emirate is fully prepared, has enduring patience and long-term Jihadi strategies against the malicious plots of the enemy and enjoys the ceaseless support of its believing nation. The Islamic Emirate correlates the presence of the alien forces in Afghanistan with instability of the entire region and will not tolerate it in the present shape nor temporary and neither in the shape of permanent bases.

The Islamic Emirate once again calls on the entire world and particularly the regional countries to support and back the Islamic Emirate in expelling of the invaders in order to achieve peace and stability in the whole region.Pict

Geulah Speculation by Dov bar Leib. Published at Mystical Paths and End of Days.

Wait, didn’t we write just a few weeks ago that we’re against geulah hype? Indeed we did. But we find some scholarly research associating modern historical events with biblical prophecies faith strengthening. There is a plan, there is a Planner, and occasionally we merit the wisdom to get a glimpse of it.

According to the Chafetz Chaim, right after World War I (WW1) he said that World War I was the first war of Gog and Magog. He proceeded to say that about 25 years after World War I there would be another great war from which the Jewish people would not be redeemed. That of course was World War II, the 2nd war of Gog and Magog.

He then said that sometime in the future after this second great war there would be a final great war from which the Final Redemption would take place. This prediction of his is verifiable by one of his students, Rav Elchanon Wasserman.

It is also a verifiable prediction that according to Rav Yitzchak Kaduri’s (zt”l) quotation of the Vilna Gaon that the final battle of Gog and Magog would begin on Hoshanah Rabba, the 7th day of Sukkot, in the first year of a Shmittah (Sabbatical) cycle.

It just so happens that Gog W. son of Gog Bush initiated the War on Terror after 9/11 by starting the bombing of the Taliban in Afghanistan on Hoshanah Rabbah 5762, the first year of a Shmittah cycle. The problem is that what happened after seven years of this final battle was the beginning of a seven year economic cycle spoken of in the Talmud in Sanhedrin 97a.

According to the prediction of the Gemora in Sandhedrin, in the third year of that cycle, which I believe we are now in, the economy of Western Civilization will collapse after signs of collapse for two full years prior. This started really in Elul 5768, just before the first year of the next Shmittah cycle, 5769, after the one that began in 5762. On Rosh HaShanna 5769, the bottom fell out of the stock market after the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment banking house two weeks earlier. I believe we are now in the third and pivotal year of that Shmittah cycle, and the dollar is literally disintegrating before our eyes.

Why the seven year cycle of the War on Terror is being followed by a seven year economic cycle is a question that only Eliyahu HaNavi can answer. There is nothing about this in the words of our sages that the seven year war cycle would be followed immediately on its heels by another seven year economic cycle. One possible insight is that the Jewish people have to do Teshuvah before Mashiach arrives. Since the seven year war on terror did not facilitate this teshuvah, G-d has to hit us where it really hurts, our pocketbook. The Old World Order where the purpose for serving G-d is to make money has to be replaced by its converse where the purpose for making money is to serve G-d. Since America represents the former and not the latter, America’s collapse is destined to happen during the third year of this Shmittah Cycle if this is the seven year cycle from Sanhedrin 97a.

The New World Order will not be lead by the likes of George Soros, of course, but by Mashiach ben Yosef who is either the present Prime Minister (yes, believe it or not I mean Netanyahu) or one with enough faith to set up the New World Economic Order where the purpose for making money is to serve G-d. Remember it is Yosef who can economically stabilize the entire world as he did in ancient Egypt. But just like ancient Egypt the “World” will not appreciate what he does and they will gather against Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) to divide it either this year or in the 7th year of this economic cycle (if we are in the cycle described by Sanhedrin 97a).

When the nations of the world do this, either only Mashiach ben Yosef will be killed in accordance with most commentaries on Zecharia 12 or “Half the City will go into exile” in accordance with Zecharia 14. Some other sefarim by our sages say that Mashiach ben Yosef does not have to die, but the Mixed Multitude will try to kill him for not bending on the status of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) before the entire world (at this current moment the entire world except for Canada, which is very strange).

Therefore, I believe either in August (Av) of 5771 or in 5775, the next Shmittah year, the nations of the world will gather against Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) to divide it, probably in order to set up a Palestinian Authority State. By the way, do not think for one minute that a Republican House of Representatives in the United States can prevent Obama from ordering the sending of NATO troops to do this. Since these troops would be on a peace keeping mission, he does not need a Declaration of War in accordance with the Constitution or the War Powers Act. Since no treaty will need ratification, he does not need 2/3 of the Senate to give its consent. And since the NATO troops will have a high German (Gomer) and Turkish (Togarmah) representation, Germany and Turkey will gladly flip the bill to pay for it. (And the current NATO leader announced they are prepared to sent troops to Israel.) A special appropriations bill to pay for it from the US Congress will not be needed. In short the American Founding Fathers put way to much power in the day to day running of foreign policy into the hands of the President. But their mistake is part of Divine Providence.

One of the arguments that it might be this year is that Av 5771 is Mincha Gedolah of the 6th millennium. According to a shitah (method of calculation) of the Vilna Gaon, Mashiach ben David can no longer come Achishena, in a nice way without suffering, after Mincha Gedolah on Yom Shishi (12:30 pm on Friday). He therefore has to start coming b’itah (in its time with tribulation). Just calculate from the Year One when the 1st millennium began until the year 5001 when the 6th millennium began. That takes us to sundown at the beginning of Yom Shishi, Thursday evening. To high noon on Friday just add 750 years (3/4 of a millennium) taking us to Rosh HaShana 5751. Since 1000 years divided by 24 hours = 41.6667 years, that is how many years correspond with each hour of the day. To get to 12:30 pm on Friday take 41.6667 divided by 2 = 20.8333 years or 20 5/6th years for each half hour. Add this to Rosh HaShanna 5751, and one gets Rosh Chodesh Av 5771, 5/6th of the way through 5771, which is this coming August 1st, just at the time when the PA wants to set up their state. On this subject one just has to see the following sent to me by Rav Pinchus Winston:

Rabbah bar Bar Chanah said: Once I was going on a boat and saw a fish upon whose back grass was growing. We thought it was an island. We alighted, baked, and cooked upon it. When the back of the fish became hot, it turned over, and had the ship not been so near (to enable us to jump into it), we would have drowned (Bava Basra 73b) … Explains Rabbeinu Ya’akov: Rabbah bar Bar Channah saw with Ruach Hakodesh that in the End-of-Days, Israel would rule over a people. Israel will assume that this people has no hope of ever overcoming Israel, and will therefore subjugate them. When the people have suffered much, they will “turn the plate over on its mouth” and resist Israel. If Moshiach is not close at hand, Israel will drown from the many problems that will arise. (“I, the author of the ‘Beis Yechiel’) showed this explanation to my teacher, Rabbi Nachum Partzuvitch, immediately after the Yom Kippur War (1973). He said that these words must have been written with Divine assistance, since at the time (18th century), the idea of Jews controlling another people was incomprehensible.” (Tuvcha Yabiyu, Balak)

We can make a valid argument that that the Palestinians are not really a people, that many of their so-called refugees were simply trying to return to where they came from. The most common last name in Gaza is Masri which means Egyptian in Arabic (Mitzri in Hebrew), proving that all those people with that last name were originally from Egypt. They made massive immigration to the Holy Land because the Jews were arriving at the same time, bringing with them the highest prosperity in that part of the world from the 1880s onward. In 1947 and 48 these Arabs were trying to return back to Egypt when King Farouk stopped them at the border and forced them to settle in Gaza. The Masris became instant Palestinians. Kaboom!!

This happened many times over with a massive influx from Jordan because the Palestinian Mandate under the British had an open border with the Jordanians with almost unlimited immigration while Jews were forced to wait in line to enter starting in the 1930s. Of course in 1939 Jewish immigration was effectively ended. What a wonderful time for the civilized British Empire to shut down Jewish immigration to the Holy Land! How thoughtful that Empire was! And with unlimited Arab immigration from Jordan to boot! Yea, I am sure no Arabs showed up from there to participate in the highest standard of living in the entire Middle East.

But the facts are these people are here now, and in 1964 the new ethnic group, the Palestinians formed the PLO to liberate Palestine from the Jews. Wait a second. Judea and Samaria were part of Jordan in 1964. What lands was the PLO formed to liberate? Golly, could it be Haifa and Tel Aviv? Do they still want to flood Haifa and Tel Aviv with 7 million Arab “refugees”? Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad just said that last week!

So for what reason are we talking to them? Because if we do not the entire world will come to force a settlement and send NATO (Gomer and Togarmah), Russian (Meshach and Tuval), and UN troops, representing the entire Quartet. The fact on the ground is that 3 million Arabs live in Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and “East Yerushalayim” along with another million and a half who live in pre-67 Israel. No matter how they got here, they are here now with no real demographic solution in sight. And now they want to, in the words of the interpretation to the above medrash, “turn the plate over on its mouth” and “re-establish” the historically non-existent” Arab country (or even province of another country) of Palestine in Judea and Samaria and Haifa and Tel Aviv and the Galilee.

How unbelievably thoughtful of them! We get to remain in a non-Jewish State of Israel with a majority Arab population that was in large part from either Egypt or Jordan to begin with who magically coalesced into a people in 1964. And of course we will be dhimmi’ized, and no Jew will ever ascend again to the seventh step leading to the Cave of Machpelah where Avraham, Isaac, and Ya’akov and their wives are buried. Remember Hebron will be Judenrein. But this is what the above medrash says.

Whichever it is, I believe in Rosh Chodesh Av 5771 or sometime in 5775, the nations of the world will gather against Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) to kick off the final phase of the battle of Gog and Magog. According to Talmudic Sources and the Prophet Micah 5:2, this final tribulation of Jews being dislocated from their properties should last approximately nine months. At that point according to the Talmud in several places, there will be one great apocalyptic battle between Rome or Edom (Western Civilization) and Persia (Iran) and its allies such as North Korea. According to this time schedule thinking, this should happen either in 5772 or 5776.

During this war all the nations that gathered to divide Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) will be punished by the effects of a nuclear war. See Zecharia 14 for the plague upon the nations that come up against Yerushalayim, it describes the effects of nuclear blasts upon the human body. During this nine month period there will be severe punishments leading up to this war upon the nations of the world.

We saw with the evacuation from Gaza and the northern Shomron a preview of things that will take place if the nations of the world evacuate Judea, Samaria, and East Jerusalem of their Jews. Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in American History, came to New Orleans within two weeks of these evacuations. During this hurricane 60 times as many Americans lost their homes as were evacuated from Gaza and the Northern Shomron. Until this day tens of thousands of New Orleans residents are living in temporary shelters.

If this 60 to one ratio holds up for the evacuations of Jews from Judea and Samaria to make them Judenrein, then 320,000 Jews will lose their homes (for up to nine months). 60 * 320,000 = more than 19 million people worldwide will lose their homes as divine retribution for that many Jews losing their homes. This will also happen in short order after any successful evacuations from Judea and Samaria.

East Yerushalayim has a special status though. According to Zecharia 12, just talking about slowing down Jewish population growth in the Holy City will cause the nation that does the talking, in the words of the Prophet, to be lacerated. It is very possible that G-d will consider the 19 years that Yerushalayim was divided under Jordanian rule between 1948 and 1967 to be enough time where Jews in East Yerushalayim were forcibly removed from their homes. But the verses in Zecharia 14 do not say this. Immediately after it says that all the nations of the world will gather against Yerushalayim, it says that homes will be ransacked and women will be violated, and half of the City will go into exile.

To say that this happened in 1948 would require HaShem to use His attribute of Rachamim (Mercy) in calculating the events of the End of Days. He did this in Egypt by counting the 400 years of exile from the birth of Yitzchak. We therefore only spent 210 years in Egypt. He could be doing this again, but we cannot expect it because in 1948 all the nations of the world did not gather against Yerushalayim. Only Jordan’s Arab League gathered against Yerushalayim. This is a far cry from what is about to happen in our time where the entire world will gather against the Jews in East Yerushalayim and where the entire world will at least attempt to send half of the City into exile.

With all this exile and being thrown out of one’s permanent home into temporary shelters, no wonder that the holiday which most represents the Final Redemption is Sukkot, the holiday of temporary dwellings.

On this note it might be best to discuss where should one be to be part of these apocalyptic events. Here in Eretz Yisrael (in Israel) the worst that will happen to its Jews is that up to 570,000 Jews might lose their homes in Judea, Samaria, and East Jerusalem. Some women might be violated while they are being dislocated from their homes too, which of course is even worse than the expulsions.

What will happen to the rest of the world because of this will be far worse. Will Jewish communities in the Diaspora have invisible shields to protect them from the punishments on the nations in which they dwell. I do not believe so, but there are actually those in the Diaspora who think that this is the case. They believe this even though already most homes in America have lost between 25-50% of their cash value since the onset of the sub-prime mortgage crisis beginning in 2006. Most Jewish communities have suffered along with the rest of America with steep declines in the value of their homes, declines which have become far more steep over the last two years. It does not look like that the invisible shield theory has worked very well.

On the other hand, there are medrashim about miracles here in the Land of Israel that will protect Eretz Yisrael from the worst of the backlash on the nations. This does not include earthquakes that will turn Yerushalayim into a plain by flattening out the entire City, but there is a medrash which talks about aerial attacks of “missiles” which will be stopped by the Hand of G-d. Do not confuse this with Ehud Barak’s and Barack Hussein Obama’s Iron Dome Missile Shield system for the truncated Eretz Yisrael, which in their minds does not include Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and East Yerushalayim. Such borders are proving to be insane as secular Israelis on the Left Coast are slowly waking up to this fact and missed the fact that the IDF announced Iron Dome will only be deployed to protect key military installations or perhaps Tel Aviv (depending on the threat and the number of systems available, which at the moment is one).

Therefore I think whether it is less than two years or if it is five years, the end is clearly in sight. And if it takes longer so be it.

To end this off, I need to note three other reasons why the nations might gather against Yerushalayim this year and not in 5775. For one, there is a post from Rav Lazer Brody, right after the evacuations from Gush Katif in 5765 (Aug. 2005), that quoted Rabbeinu Bachya on the Torah portion of VaYechi, that the Final Redemption (either Mashiach ben Yosef or ben David) has to begin within seven years of Jews being forcibly removed from their homes. (Rav Lazer has recently purged many of his old posts including this one from his archives, for he says that he does not want to comment any more on politics. Everything that he writes about now deals with increasing emunah (faith) in HaShem in the world. Therefore, do not look for this post in his archives).

[ Side note – I do not know why this does not include Yamit and other communities that were in the far-eastern Sinai in 1982 as part of the Peace Treaty with Egypt. These communities were also part of Eretz Yisrael according to BaMidbar (Book of Numbers) which includes up to 1/3 of the eastern Sinai. ]

But the evacuation of Gush Katif by a standing army of 200,000 Jews as part of the time of Gog son of Gog is spoken about by the Targum (translator) Yonatan ben Uziel from 2000 years ago here on Deut. 34:2-3. He even mentions by name the capital city of Gush Katif as Kirvat Dekalya, City of Date Palms. The name of the actual capital city of Gush Katif was Newe Dekalim, The Dwellings of Date Palms. Now this happened 5 1/2 years ago. By August of this year it will be six years since the evacuation of Gush Katif, leaving only one year left in Rabbeinu Bachya’s calculation. This calculation allows for the arrival of Mashiach ben Yosef in the seventh year from the evacuation from Gush Katif and not necessarily the coming of ben David.

Secondly, in my Cosmic Clock calculations this year 5771 is the Year of Hoshana Rabbah, the seventh Year of Sukkoth. Therefore until the end of this year according to the Cosmic Clock, Jews could still enter “temporary dwellings”, forcibly this time at the hands of the entire world. Also in accordance with the Cosmic Clock, 5772 is Shmini Atzeret, the 8th day of the Great Festival of the Final Redemption on which only one sacrificial bull for the nation Israel was offered. On the other previous seven days of the Festival, during the seven days of Sukkot, 70 bulls for the 70 original nations of the world are offered up. The nations of the world are invited to “party” with Israel during these first seven days. Shmini Atzeret is only for Israel, and we return to live in our permanent homes too. Therefore it makes sense that Israel’s Final Redemption might come to its peak during 5772 according to the Cosmic Clock.

Finally there is a book by Eliyahu Shatz. I came across this book because of my close association with Rabbi Dr. Marvin Antelman (To Eliminate the Opiate) who highly recommends Shatz’s book written in Hebrew (Commentary of Eliyahu on Prophesies of the Redemption in (the Hebrew) Scripture). In this book he dissects the two word expression that appears regularly throughout Scripture Acharit HaYamim (The End of Days). He says Yamim should be understood as Yoma’im (Two days) as it says in Hoshea 6:2 After two days He will resuscitate us. On the third day He will raise us up, and we will live before Him.

The two days are 2000 years where the Holy Temple lies fallow in a state of ruin. This includes 70 years for the First Temple, and 1930 years for the 2nd Temple. This takes us to the end of the Year 5760 (autumn of 2000). Acharit refers to the beginning the the Al Aksa Intafada which began about 36 hours before Rosh HaShannah 5761 (autumn of 2000). Somehow he derives that Acharit refers to twelve years. He understands this as twelve years of the final third battle of Gog and Magog.

Rabbi Dr. Antelman has given me another book to read in English by the same author which derives this from the Book of Daniel. I will let you all know when I have read it, bli neder, and understood it. He definitively says in the above referenced book that the Redemption is in 5772. The copyright date on the book is in 5764 (2004).

As with everything else we will have to see it happen to know for sure. In truth none of this is certain as I have learned since I started blogging in early 2005 right after the South Asian Tsunami. We should just be prepared for anything that G-d might happen to throw our way. It is all for our very best. This is, G-d willing, the generation that will correct the original sins of Israel in the desert.

We Were Wrong—Germany Is Taking Over
From the May June 2010 Trumpet Print Edition »
Waking up to Berlin’s true ambitions By Brad Macdonald and Ron Fraser

For many years the Trumpet has informed its readers of the true imperialist agenda of certain elites in Germany. Many, in their ignorance, laughed. Now, however, some of the brightest and best of analysts are waking up to the true nature of the agenda of the current generation of German imperialists.

Our long-time readers will know that one of the sources we often quote is Texas-based think tank Stratfor. We first noticed the astute analysis of Dr. George Friedman, Stratfor’s ceo, during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. We even published a cover story featuring an article he wrote exposing the falsehood behind reports of Serbian-instigated genocide.

George Friedman has a mind as sharp as a razor. His grasp of history as it relates to unfolding current world events is profound. His Hungarian heritage probably gives him a natural affinity with European and transatlantic affairs in particular. Yet in many of his analyses, Dr. Friedman has spoken of Europe as being a power in decline. In his most recent bestseller, The Next Hundred Years, Friedman sees the U.S. as being the dominant power throughout the current century.

On that point, with due respect to Dr. Friedman, we beg to differ. We differ based on the “more sure word of prophecy,” which foretells a far different outcome.

In fact, the prophecies of your Bible forecast the decline of the Anglo-Saxon peoples and the rise to global dominance, if only briefly, of three distinctly competitive powers—a German-led imperial Europe, Iran and the Sino-Russian bloc.

Interestingly, a recent analysis by another Stratfor analyst shows that current events are forcing them to look again and to reevaluate their position on Europe, and Germany in particular.

Recognizing a German Plan?

It seems Stratfor is coming to have a degree of consensus with the Trumpet’s view. “The global system is undergoing profound change,” wrote one of Stratfor’s most articulate analysts, Peter Zeihan, on March 16. “Three powers—Germany, Iran and China—face challenges forcing them to refashion the way they interact with their regions and the world.” These are essentially the same three powers to which biblical prophecy compels us to devote the majority of our attention.

Zeihan went on to focus on Germany. His analysis of current trends in Germany hints at there having been an underlying agenda to give that nation its current dominance in European affairs. Read what Zeihan wrote about Stratfor’s changing view of the EU in light of the current Greek financial fiasco and what it portends for a restructuring of the EU model:

“Despite their shared EU membership, the Western European members were quite reluctant to bail out their eastern partners. We became even more convinced that such inconsistencies would eventually doom the currency union, and that the euro’s eventual dissolution would take the European Union with it. Now, we’re not so sure.

“What if, instead of the euro being designed to further contain the Germans, the Germans crafted the euro to rewire the European Union for their own purposes?” (emphasis ours throughout).

Our dear long-time readers, where did you first read of Germany perhaps deliberately constructing a monetary system to fail so as to create the very crisis that would lead the German leaders to pose their own corporatist solution on the problem in the interests of meeting their own nationalist, imperialist goals for a Fourth Reich?

Amid the economic bedlam besieging Europe, an undisputed reality is emerging: Germany is exploiting this crisis to forge Europe into a vehicle of Teutonic ambition.

For Stratfor analyst Peter Zeihan, this reality crystallized in the wake of a recent remark by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. “We need tighter rules,” Schäuble remarked on March 13, in response to Greece’s failing economy and the eurozone crisis. “That means in an extreme case, the possibility that a country that does not get its finances in order at all leaves the euro group.”

Dramatic though it is, Schäuble’s remark is a nugget within a goldmine of evidence exposing Germany’s ambition to dominate Europe. Nevertheless, this was the nugget that caught Zeihan’s eye and sparked an exceptional piece of analysis. Read on and see just how close Stratfor’s thinking is becoming to the reality of what the Trumpet has forecast since the euro’s creation.

“[W]hat jumped out at us is that someone of Schäuble’s gravitas doesn’t go about casually making threats,” Zeihan noted. “[T]his is not the sort of statement made by a country that is constrained, harnessed, submerged or placated. It is not even the sort of statement made by just any EU member, but rather by the decisive member. Germany now appears prepared not just to contemplate, but to publicly contemplate, the reengineering of Europe for its own interests. It may not do it, or it may not do it now, but it has now been said, and that will change Germany’s relationship to Europe.”

Now, read the following statement from Zeihan and remember—remember what Herbert Armstrong prophesied for almost 60 years prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Remember what the Trumpet has consistently forecast based on the inerrant prophecies of your Bible. Remember—and be sobered!

“[O]ur assessment of the euro is shifting from the belief that it was a straitjacket for Germany to the belief that it is Germany’s springboard. … Germany is becoming a bit too successful at charting its own destiny. And as it dawns on one European country after another that there was more to the euro than cheap credit, the ties that bind are almost certainly going to weaken.”

Throughout his article, Zeihan made a multitude of important and grave observations. His conclusion almost sounded as if it had been plucked from the archives of the Trumpet: “The paradigm that created the European Union—that Germany would be harnessed and contained—is shifting. Germany now has not only found its voice, it is beginning to express, and hold to, its own national interest. A political consensus has emerged in Germany against bailing out Greece. Moreover, a political consensus has emerged in Germany that the rules of the eurozone are Germany’s to refashion. … [T]his was not the ‘union’ the rest of Europe signed up for—it is the Mitteleuropa that the rest of Europe will remember well.”

This stunning observation will not be lost on those familiar with the history of German ambition for Europe. As Zeihan noted: “If the euro is essentially gutting the European … economic base, then Germany is achieving by stealth what it failed to achieve in the past thousand years of intra-European struggles.”

In other words, the country responsible for causing a multitude of conflicts in Europe, including the two most devastating wars in human history, is today—via its role as Europe’s economic savior—gaining dominion over the Continent.

When sharp analysts at high-profile think tanks such as Stratfor are prepared to publish challenging views such as put forward by Peter Zeihan that so closely match those of biblical prophecy propounded by this magazine, perhaps it is time our critics look more seriously into that “more sure word of prophecy”!

For more analysis on how Germany could take advantage of economic difficulties in Europe, read the article “The Greek Crisis Was Planned!” from our April issue. •

Recently by Bill Sardi: How To Prepare For Obamacare: Practice Self-Care

This article provides a list of proven home remedies and self-help strategies that readers can begin utilizing today to maintain health while avoiding costly medical care.

While I have written articles in the past at LR that have addressed heart disease, cancer and other maladies, I hadn’t yet addressed every-day and emergent health problems that cause Americans to run to the doctor.

Americans can begin to stock their home medicine chest with items that will avert or forestall a visit to the doctor. Many of the most common reasons to visit a doctor, stomach pains, chest pains, fever, cough, headaches, sore throats, infections, toothaches, back aches, can be handled with low-cost remedies at home. Here are some proven home remedies:

1.
Pepto Bismol for diarrhea: hundreds of thousands of Americans visit the hospital emergency room every year due to food poisoning. The food chain is contaminated and animal waste runoff is a huge problem that poisons water and food. The bacteria count in meat and dairy products has increased 100-fold in recent decades as domesticated animals are fed grain instead of grass which alkalinizes their digestive tract. Stomach acid is the primary defense against incoming germs found in food and water.

When food poisoning occurs, diarrhea and fever will come hours after exposure, sometimes at hours when doctors are not easily accessible. If you have a bottle of bismuth (Pepto-Bismol) handy, it will coat the lining of your digestive tract and the germs can’t continue to replicate and your symptoms will rapidly subside.
2. Prevent food poisoning before it occurs: Hundreds of thousands of Americans rush to hospital emergency rooms each year due to food poisoning. There are simple ways to prevent food poisoning.

Chicken commonly harbors a bug called campylobacter. Beef harbors E. coli. Salmonella is commonly found in meat and dairy products.

Spices added to these foods kill any bacteria that may survive heat. A Cornell University study shows that garlic, onion, oregano and allspice kill off all food-borne germs. Save a trip to the doctor’s office and spice up your foods.

In the event of food-borne infection, natural antibiotic molecules in spices need to be given more consideration in an era when overuse of prescription antibiotics increases the risk for antibiotic resistant bacteria. Natural alternatives that don’t induce germ resistance are carvacrol, the active ingredient in oil of oregano, and allicin, the active ingredient provided when a clove of garlic is crushed. (See http://www.garlicbreakthrough.com )

Added note – some people with gum disease brush their teeth with diluted oil of oregano to kill off the acid-forming bacteria that causes gum inflammation and destroys dental enamel.
3.

Cloves or clove oil for toothache: maybe you can find a doc-in-the-box or emergency room that is open in the wee hours of night, but a throbbing toothache will not likely be quelled till your dentist’s office opens the next morning. Cloves and clove oil, applied topically, are well known to quell a toothache. In a head-to-head test, clove oil was found to provide anesthesia equal to benzocaine, the numbing medicine dentists use.
4.

Hydrogen peroxide and therapeutic oils for middle ear infection: Hydrogen peroxide can be safely instilled into the ear canal at the first sign of an ear infection. After peroxide bubbles for a short while it will turn from H2O2 to H2O – totally non-toxic water. Not to worry – it is safe. Begin instilling hydrogen peroxide in the ear canal of children at the first sign of a cold as the infection may gravitate to the ear canal days later. In an animal study, oil of basil cured or healed 56–75% of experimental cases of middle ear infection. While home treatment is encouraged, don’t let ear infections in children linger without seeing a doctor, or this may result in permanent hearing loss.
5.

For sore throat, gargle with salt water or baking soda: the mouth is full of acid-forming bacteria (primarily streptococcus). A raw throat that is not coated with mucus will permit bacteria will dig in and within hours you have a sore (strep) throat. At the very first sign (a tickle in the back of your throat), begin gargling with something alkaline like warm salt water or baking soda water, which will kill off the acid-forming bacteria.

It’s amazing how many people forget to gargle at the first sign of a sore throat and later have to run to the doctor for antibiotics. Forget to gargle and you may end up with inflamed tonsils, bronchitis, and other upper respiratory symptoms.

Gargling is effective for winter-time respiratory tract infections. One study showed that gargling with green tea extract (catechin) during flu outbreaks would reduce flu infection from 10% to 1.3% among nursing home residents. Even simple water gargling is effective against respiratory tract infection. I want to urge people to place a small sign on their bathroom mirror which reads “don’t forget to gargle.”
6. Sulfur (NAC) for bronchitis. Bronchitis, usually caused by a viral infection, is a common reason to obtain care from a doctor. Bronchitis is experienced as a chronic cough or clearing of the throat, and it emanates from mucus accumulating in the windpipe or deeper in the lungs. Millions of Americans suffer with chronic every-day bronchitis or smoker’s cough.

N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), a sulfur molecule is an underused remedy for bronchitis. It is available at health food stores. NAC inhibits lung inflammation during bouts of the flu. For chronic cough, theobromine, an extract from cocoa bean, has also been shown to be effective.

An elusive cause of a chronic tickling cough at the back of the throat is dry eye. When glands in the eyelids do not secrete a sufficient amount of oils and mucin onto the surface of the eyes, a water gland located above the brow is switched on, creating a stream of watery tears that flows into the nasal passages via a drain (punctum) in the eyelids, and then drips onto the epiglottis, which then causes a person to continually clear their throat. If your eyes are watery, red, burning, and your skin is dry and your nails are brittle, and you have a chronic tickling cough, these are indicators you need to supplement the diet with essential oils. A combination of flaxseed and borage oil will stimulate glands in the eyelids to secrete a sufficient amount of oil to coat the eyes and reduce evaporation of tears, and the water gland switches off, and no more tickling cough.
7.
Vitamin D for colds and flu or any other types of infection. Only recently have infectious disease investigators learned that vitamin D creates an antibiotic peptide (cathelicidin). This discovery opens a whole new era in the control and prevention of infectious disease – in particular, influenza and the common cold.

There is a growing recognition that upper respiratory and middle ear infections in infants and young children emanates from a lack of vitamin D. Vitamin D is even being suggested in place of vaccines. Middle ear infections are very common in children, comprising a major reason for doctors’ office visits, and low vitamin D levels have been linked with middle ear infections. Pediatricians now suggest vitamin D supplements for infants.

To prevent colds and flu, at least 2000 IU (international units) for children and 5000 IU for adults is recommended. Therapeutic doses range from 10,000 to 50,000 IU, with many adults reporting rapid disappearance of common cold symptoms (in minutes) at this dosage range.

While many Americans are unduly concerned about overdose of vitamin D, a full hour of midday summer sun will produce ~10,000 IU of natural vitamin D without side effects and for many years doctors have injected 250,000 IU vitamin D in a single day for wintertime protection without reported side effect. Ignore health authorities who warn against overdoses and have intentionally kept this remedy from the public for far too long.

Families with young children should have liquid and chewable vitamin D available. The Vitamin D Store has an online array of 50 products to choose from, including D for kids, high and low-dose D, and its famous 30-Minutes-Of-Sunshine pill. It also offers The Uncensored Family Guide To Vitamin D, by this author, free.
8. Natural remedies for pain and inflammation. Pain is a major reason for visits to the doctor’s office. Common over-the-counter pain relievers like aspirin and ibuprofen are fraught with side effects and it is sad to realize thousands of Americans have died needlessly from side effects produced by prescription or non-prescription anti-inflammatory drugs. There is no safe prescription or over-the-counter pain pill.

Nature does provide safe and effective anti-inflammatory agents such as tart cherry (as effective as ibuprofen or naproxen).

Another natural molecule with striking ability to reduce markers of inflammation (COX-2, C-reactive protein and TNF (tumor necrosis factor) is resveratrol, a red wine molecule. Resveratrol should be taken in modest doses (175–300 mg).

For wear-and-tear arthritis (osteoarthritis), ~1200 mg of SAMe (S-adenosyl methionine) has been shown to be effective. One study showed SAMe to be as effective as Celebrex for joint pain. SAMe is available at both drug and health food stores.
9. Natural remedies for headache. Unbearable headache is another common reason for doctors’ office visits. There are many causes of headache so it may be difficult to pinpoint a cause and match it with a home remedy. However, migraine headaches are usually caused by a spasm within blood vessels around the eyes and forehead.

Magnesium (as mag-citrate or malate or glycinate), 200–400 mg is worth trying. (Magnesium oxide is so poorly absorbed it is no better than a placebo.) Be aware, excessive magnesium can result in loose stool. Certainly menstrual migraines are often relieved or prevented with magnesium supplementation.

A New York Times survey published some time ago showed many headache sufferers found relief by taking supplemental coenzyme Q10, a remedy that is backed by good science.

Another common cause of headaches in young females is iron-deficiency. Ferronyl (carbonyl) is the only safe iron pill. If an iron pill isn’t handy, a piece of red meat will usually provide enough iron to quell a headache.
10.

Indigestion and intestinal gas are common. Activated charcoal has been shown to be effective in relieving intestinal gas, which is a commonly reported problem. Activated charcoal can be found in drug and health food stores. Fennel seed is often provided in east Indian restaurants as a traditional digestive aid and it is known to adsorb intestinal gas. As an aside, fennel was convincingly shown to relieve menstrual-related discomfort better than a commonly-prescribe drug. Fennel seed is available as a spice or dietary supplement capsule.
11.

Heartburn (reflux of stomach acid into the esophagus) is a most common reason to rush to the doctor to obtain a prescription antacid. Most of these heartburn medications induce nutrient deficiencies via reduction of stomach acid and are also intentionally designed to create rebound heartburn if a patient stops taking the drug.

The avoidance of alcohol and strong coffee is often helpful for this condition. Prescription drugs often induce heartburn. When bedtime heartburn is experienced, prop your head up on a pillow to prevent backflow of stomach acid into the esophagus.

Recently it has been shown that mastic gum capsules markedly reduce heartburn symptoms.

Many heartburn drugs are histamine blockers (histamine is required for stomach acid secretion). Quercetin, a natural histamine blocker found in red onions and red apple peel, is available as a dietary supplement and may reduce the severity of esophageal reflux.
12. Low back pain is another common reason to pay an expensive visit to the emergency room. Supplemental magnesium may be helpful for this condition. In Germany, an extract obtained from Devil’s claw (botanical name Harpagophytum procumbens), providing 50 milligrams of the active ingredient harpagoside, has been shown to be as effective as prescription pain relievers with fewer side effects.

13.

Seasonal and chronic allergies force many people to seek emergency care. Antihistamine drugs often cause drowsiness. Quercetin, a natural antihistamine, is often useful during allergy season and does not induce drowsiness.
14.

Chronic sinusitis (sinus infection) is a very common and poorly treated problem. It usually emanates from fungal infection of the sinus cavities and is very chronic in nature. People continually exposed to contaminated water, like surfers and water skiers, often complain of this problem. Oil of oregano taken orally, 3 times a day, is often helpful in quelling this agonizing condition.

Availability and use of these and other natural remedies should save thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket health care expenses and increase school and work productivity.

Bill Sardi [send him mail] is a frequent writer on health and political topics. His health writings can be found at http://www.naturalhealthlibrarian.com. He is the author of You Don’t Have To Be Afraid Of Cancer Anymore. His latest book is Downsizing Your Body.

The late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, inventor and refiner of the Islamic suicide terror weapon, left a time bomb ticking away six years after his mysterious death in Paris. His private archive is being fought over now in a quietly desperate tug-o’-war, DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources revealed last week.

Arafat had few heroes aside from himself, but his chosen tutors were the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu (who was executed by his own people in 1989), and security chief, Gen. Ion Mihai Padepa. Bucharest was one of the few places in the world where the Palestinian terror chief felt he could go to ground safely while also indulging his unusual sexual habits. From Ceaucescu and Pacepa and their intelligence apparatus, the DIE, Arafat learned that the secrets of world figures and their private lives could be a primary source of immense political power.

Therefore, during his 36 years as head of the Palestinian movement, the PLO Arafat used the Palestinian spy agencies he controlled to methodically collect data and build up dossiers not only on Israeli, Arab and Muslim figures of the day but also a host of world leaders, politicians, generals, economic czars, high-tech executives and their families. Some are still in official positions.

From 1966, while pioneering airliner hijackings and other violent practices for promoting the Palestinian cause, he secretly amassed and collated this material, helped by an army of assistants under his personal management. This world-class international terrorist undoubtedly used some of its incriminating content to lever himself onto the world stage as a respected figure.

When Israel allowed him to set himself up on the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1994, under the Oslo Framework Peace Accords, Arafat decided to leave his secret archive behind at his place of exile in Tunis to make sure it stayed out of Israeli hands.

After his death, its management passed to the veteran PLO personnel chief Abdel Abu Maher Ghneim, who was in charge of the various Palestinian factions’ terrorist personnel and their funding. Ghneim was against the Oslo accords and preferred exile to joining the relocated Palestinian leadership in Ramallah.

That was until August, 2009, when the Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas prevailed on him to accept the appointment of senior deputy to the PA chairman and his heir apparent. The archive manager’s move to Ramallah gave Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali his chance. As soon as the Palestinian had gone, Ben Ali sent his secret service to seize the priceless Arafat archive and bar access to any Palestinian official or visitor.

During December, Abbas made several phone calls to talk the Tunisian President round into releasing the Arafat archive for transfer to Ramallah. Ben Ali was unmoved, even when Abbas explained emotionally that it was part of the Arafat legacy and the bedrock of Palestinian independence.

In early January, a high-ranking Palestinian delegation went to Tunis to offer Ben Ali a compromise: They would be allowed to photocopy the secret archive documents while leaving the originals in Tunis.

This too, the Tunisian ruler refused. But by then, he had found a legalistic cloak for his position: Yasser Arafat’s widow, Suha, was the only legitimate claimant to any Arafat property, he told his disappointed visitors.

Ben Ali had done his homework.

He knew about the deal Abbas had cut with the widow in 2005 after a year of interminable wrangling over Arafat’s assets. Suha was awarded the colossal stipend of $80 million per annum under a contract with the Palestinian Authority that was contingent on her complying with two conditions: She must never divulge any information about her dead husband’s life and never leave her place of exile on the island of Malta.

Arafat’s widow agreed that if she breached those conditions, she would forfeit the funds held by her and Palestinian Authority officials in a joint bank account.

Therefore, as the Tunisian president knew very well, Suha Arafat would never travel to Tunis to claim her inheritance, including the precious secret archive.

San Francisco: Selfishness Writ Large
December 22, 2009 | From theTrumpet.com
Moral breakdown is wrecking what should be a bastion of prosperity.

San Francisco is a leader. It leads the country in homosexual marriage. Its representatives lead the charge to return America’s troops from Iraq. Its businesses pay the highest minimum wages in the country. And San Francisco spends more money per capita on homeless people and social services than almost every other city in the nation.

But San Francisco is leading the nation in one other way too—down the economic sinkhole. One of America’s most beautiful cities is in danger of becoming the next Detroit.

“It’s time to face the facts,” laments the San Francisco Weekly. “San Francisco is spectacularly mismanaged and arguably the worst-run big city in America.”

Urbanologist Joel Kotkin agrees: “Even other liberal places wouldn’t put up with the degree of dysfunction they have in San Francisco. In Houston, the exact opposite of San Francisco, I assume you’d get shot.”

San Francisco is a city verging on an economic decline as dramatic as its moral decline. The warning for America is that even the nation’s richest cities are on the edge of disintegration.

The biggest difference between San Francisco and today’s Detroit is that the Californian city still has the facade of wealth. But it is a debt-based veneer that is becoming more transparent by the week.

San Francisco city planners boast an astonishing $6.6 billion budget—more than twice that of Detroit, despite the fact that Detroit’s population is 25 percent greater. But even though San Francisco rakes in a gargantuan $33,000 per family of four each year in revenue, it has seemingly unsolvable spending problems.

Just like Detroit a decade ago, years of mismanagement and corruption are about to tip the Golden Gate city off the financial bridge.

This past year, the mayor’s office was forced to implement some of the deepest cuts to spending in the city’s history. Due to a massive revenue shortfall, $575 million had to be chopped or raised in taxes to balance the budget. Since the city is dominated by unions and self-interest groups, that meant that public health services and other non-union sectors took the biggest whacks.

It wasn’t nearly enough.

“We were cut to the bone,” said Board of Supervisors President David Chiu. “At this point, we don’t have anything [left] to cut but bone.”

Sadly, for the City by the Bay, the bones—along with a lot of gristle and sinew—will have to go too, and in dramatic fashion.

San Francisco’s projected budget deficit for the coming fiscal year is estimated to be another $500 million. “It is going to be the most challenging budget situation that anyone has ever seen in San Francisco,” says Chiu.

If you thought the 1,600 proposed job cuts were bad, wait until next year.

Already plagued by plunging real-estate values, city tax collections look set to fall even further.

This year, over 4,000 property owners, representing $25 billion worth of real estate, have filed appeals against the city concerning property valuations and taxes. Last year at this time there were only 350 challenges, representing $2 billion in assets. If these appeals are successful—and with property prices still falling, they probably should be—the hit to city finances could be huge.

And that doesn’t take into account the looming commercial real-estate collapse. In a dramatic sign of what is headed San Francisco’s way, investment bank Morgan Stanley decided to pull the same trick that millions of homeowners across America are doing and strategically default on five of its high-end office buildings—even though it can afford the payments. It is mailing back the keys to $8 billion worth of devaluing downtown tower space.

The city has already implemented a program to mask the growing glut of empty commercial buildings. Artists will be given small grants to showcase their wares in vacant store windows.

In San Francisco, the employment situation does not look too hopeful either. Although the city’s approximately 10 percent unemployment rate is a far cry from Detroit’s 22 percent, some worrying trends are developing. Like skyrocketing social spending.

The city is becoming a kind of Rome before the fall where rich elite spend ever increasing amounts on bread and circuses to pacify the impoverished mobs. San Francisco pays more per capita combating homelessness and on social services than any comparable city in the U.S. Yet the ranks of the homeless continue to grow.

San Francisco, of all cities, should not be facing such dire economic conditions.

Blessed with one of the most favorable climates in the world, set against a beautiful coastal backdrop, and enjoying one of the best natural harbors in the world, San Francisco should be a bastion of prosperity. Throw in its proximity to the tech-heavy Silicon valley, its status as a major tourist destination, its large universities, and you would never guess that this city could have such economic problems.

Although national economic conditions have conspired to knock San Francisco, it is the corruption, greed, incompetence, and general condition of selfishness that have set the City by the Bay up for what could be a spectacular fall.

San Francisco has become a case study of how special interest groups can wreck even the most prosperous city. No one fights for the good of the city. Each fights for his own good.

The city’s out-of-control health-care and retirement spending is a case in point.

Here is the catastrophe the city faces. In 1999, the city contributed $300,000 to retirement plans. This year, the city will contribute $200.5 million! Four years from now, the city will pay a whopping $492 million.

Total benefit costs paid by the city in 1999 were $384 million. This year, San Francisco paid $890 million. In 2013, it will have to pay $1.4 billion!

These numbers are simple mathematics. The city knows how many employees are going to retire. The city knows when the employees will be forced into retirement. And the city even knows how much money it has promised to pay.

What no one knows is where the money is going to come from.

Corrupt politicians have sold the city’s finances and its future to powerful lobbies. They knew what the eventual bills could amount to, but they went ahead anyway. Voters must be placated, or reelections won’t result. “This is a union town,” warned a transit worker when the city attempted to fire certain employees for incompetence. “[A]nd we expect it to stay this way.”

Everyone is beholden to someone. And it is painfully obvious every time a labor contract goes up for negotiation. Public finances are sacrificed to placate special interest groups. It has become common practice for the government to accept prolific future salary increases as long as the unions agree to a very little or small increase for the first year or two. This allows both the city and the unions to save face. Since the Board of Supervisors only examines the impact on the budget on a yearly basis, it is easy to sneak the new contracts through. But it is in the future years—and under someone else’s watch, they hope—that the city finances take the hit.

City employees are also among the most richly paid in the country. For example, entry-level police officers receive a base salary of anywhere between $75,868 to $101,556—depending on who they know at the time of hiring. Entry-level firefighters without paramedic training receive between $70,486 and $98,670. And don’t forget that these positions also include tens of thousands of dollars in additional benefits. What other industry can you enter with no experience and get paid a six-figure salary?

And to make matters more costly for the city, employees regularly engage in what has become known as retirement spiking. Since city laws calculate retirees’ pensions based upon their last year salary, government employees game the system by giving each other big raises in their final year of service. The result is that labor contracts turn into hidden bombs just waiting to detonate in the city’s face.

Only in a union town. But as Detroit knows, eventually somebody pays the price.

Writing in the San Francisco Weekly, Benjamin Wachs and Joe Eskaenazi describe how bad the Recreation and Park Department has become. An internal audit found that rec centers frequently didn’t open because staff simply didn’t show up. The department had no process to do anything about it. Groundskeepers too seem to be able to arbitrarily decide when and where they will show up to work.

Imagine running your business like this.

In the Marina’s Yacht Harbor, a report by the city’s budget analyst found massive fiscal mismanagement. The report suggested that perhaps so much money would not have gone missing if the city had installed a cash register.

Yet the city cannot fire anyone due to union protections. When the city proposed reforms to make the transit system run on time and on budget, the union slammed on the brakes. According to contract rules, the union only allowed 1.5 percent of its employees to be fired for incompetence each year. When it discovered that the city wanted to raise the limit, the union threatened enough retaliation to kill the reforms. So everyone has to put up with off-schedule trains and more expensive fares.

Wachs and Eskaenazi also describe how the city has almost total lack of accountability. “[M]illions of taxpayer dollars are wasted on good ideas that fail for stupid reasons, and stupid ideas that fail for good reasons, and hardly anyone is taken to task.”

It “is a mecca for people in search of a government handout that they can hand out,” they write. Hundreds of millions are spent on social programs that no one is required to demonstrate yield any results. And the money disappears.

San Francisco is a city in serious trouble. But sadly, it is not alone. The same economic problems plaguing San Francisco are hitting many U.S. cities, and are set to get much worse. San Francisco’s moral slide, however, is just more obvious.

It is impossible to prosper for long once moral breakdown becomes endemic. When the majority is focused on getting and the tiny minority on giving and serving, society begins to fall apart. It is an economic law that morals and prosperity are deeply entwined. If there is anything America should learn from the current recession it is that economic breakdown follows moral breakdown.

San Francisco might not like it, but it all gets back to the spirit of the Ten Commandments. Break these laws, and they will eventually break you. •

The giants of the East are positioned to upset U.S. sanctions on Iran by supplying Tehran with gasoline.

U.S.-led fuel sanctions on Iran are being undermined by China and Russia. Chinese companies are already selling gasoline to Iran, and Russia is poised to follow suit.

Because Russia has so often thwarted sanctions on Iran in the United Nations Security Council, the U.S. has been forced to get more creative.

In anticipation of Iran’s refusal to enter into talks about its nuclear program, the United States has developed a sanctions plan that bypasses the UN.

Although Iran is among the world’s largest crude oil producers, it lacks the refining capability to meet domestic demands for gasoline. The proposed U.S. sanctions zero in on Iran’s gasoline imports, which comprise up to 40 percent of its consumption. Because petrol imports are the most vulnerable point of the Iranian economy, the West hopes the pressure from supply cuts would be significant enough to choke Tehran into making concessions.

But tidings from the East reveal cracks in the U.S.’s plan.

“We estimate, based on what we are hearing in the market,” said JPMorgan head of commodities research Lawrence Eagles, “that 30,000-40,000 barrels a day of Chinese petrol is making its way from the Asian spot market to Iran via third parties.”

Iran imports approximately 120,000 barrels of gasoline each day. By shipping through intermediaries, China can supply one third of that amount without any overt official agreements.

It is unlikely that Moscow will make such efforts to disguise its assistance to Iran.

Russia’s relationship with Iran is one of Moscow’s favorite items of leverage to use against the U.S. In terms of geography and gasoline capacity, Moscow is in a position to cripple the planned sanctions. Russia recently surpassed Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest oil producer, and is among the largest refiners. It would have no trouble supplying Iran’s domestic demands by ship or rail from the north, a route which could not be blocked by U.S. or Israeli military.

Russo-U.S. relations are in steady decline, and Russia’s next moves will determine whether the U.S.-led gasoline sanctions on Iran are a success or failure.

Russia’s and China’s refusals to back America demonstrate the political independence and national self-determination of these rising nations. Their respect for the West is precipitously waning. China is bolstered by its growing economic power. Russia is emboldened by its central role in energy politics.

Weighed down by internal and external strife and division, America is increasingly incapable of defending its position on the global stage, and the rise of Russia and China—as well as other powers—will increasingly marginalize the U.S.

For more about these ultimately hope-filled trends, read “The Giants of the East” and Russia and China in Prophecy. •

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